FALL RIVER — Another cleanup at Oak Grove Cemetery has fueled residents’ growing anger with the Park Board, this time from a historical perspective.

Dozens of ceramic planters and urns were removed from gravesites last week — some of them dug out of the ground — and disposed of in a wooded area on cemetery property.

In the past, the controversy has surrounded items left by mourners like plastic flowers and candles.

Mayor Jasiel Correia II said the cleanup was part of a continuing effort by the Park Board to remove prohibited items from the cemetery. He said “no grave has been desecrated.”

When photos of the discarded items turned up on social media, people were outraged and felt that historic items had been callously removed. Some ventured to the cemetery and apparently helped themselves to the discarded items.

On Sunday, the cemetery gates were locked early to deter the activity.

Correia said he didn’t believe the items were very old at all or had any historical significance, but some beg to differ.

“They are definitely historical,” said Mike Keane, a member of the city’s Historical Commission and the president of Friends of Oak Grove Cemetery.

Keane, an architect, said he first went to the site on Thursday and found the planters and urns in a heap on the ground. He said about half of what was there was taken over the weekend.

“I was sick,” Keane said. “I was physically ill from seeing this.”

Keane said it was a “rash” and “wrong” decision by the Park Board, which oversees the historic cemetery that was established in 1855.

“How can you not discern between (prohibited items) and something historic to the cemetery?” Keane questioned.

He said no one reached out to the Historical Commission or the Friends of Oak Grove Cemetery to seek an opinion about removing old items from gravesites.

Keane said he believed some of the pieces dated back to the 1920s and '30s, some possibly earlier, and others from the '50s.

At the cemetery on Monday, City Councilor Linda Pereira looked at the stone flower boxes and urns, now laid out in rows, and said it was “heartbreaking.”

“I’m disgusted,” she said. “It’s deplorable.”

Pereira said if anyone says the pieces were broken before they were removed: “That’s a lie. They broke when they dumped them here.”

Some of the flower boxes, decorated with design work, appeared to have been dug up and still carried several inches of dirt beneath them.

“The people buried here are the makers of Fall River,” Pereira said. “Don’t they have any respect?”

Jason Caminiti, a member of the Park Board and Community Preservation Committee, said he didn’t believe the boxes and urns were actually very old at all, and dated them to be “not older than the 1950s.”

“I understand it looks bad,” Caminiti said, but added that they are still being sold. “Most of this stuff is moulded concrete.”

He said he was upset that the Historical Commission took it upon themselves to post photos of the planters online, which led to the public coming in and taking the items.

Caminiti said the boxes and urns, which were not cared for by family members any longer, could hold water and create a breeding ground for mosquitoes that cause disease.

In removing them, Caminiti said: “I think we did a service to this city.”

Correia met with members from the Park Board and Historical Commission, plus state Rep. Carole Fiola on Monday afternoon to learn what had happened and how to move forward.

Correia said that while the cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places, the designation does not protect items in the cemetery.

Correia said he had some solutions going forward.

He said the boxes and urns still on site would be categorized and catalogued.

He plans to appoint a member of the Historical Commission to the Park Board so there would be input the next time these matters arise.

Correia also said regulations that govern cemetery decorations may need to be cleaned up.

“The whole thing was murky,” Correia said.

He said the regulations need to be clear because it isn’t fair that items are removed from some graves, while others remain.